The problem of choice is the dilemma that will always face a person. What to choose so that it is beneficial, so as not to miscalculate? The philosophical question, known as the “buridan donkey," will always excite the minds of mankind. In this article we will analyze the meaning of phraseology, its origin, and find out where in the literature this phrase is used.
Background
The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who lived in the fourth century BC, told his students and listeners a parable. In his story of buridans, a donkey is an indecisive person who dies of thirst and hunger. This person is within walking distance of food and food and does not know what to choose for his salvation. This story is symbolic.
In fact, Aristotle had in mind that if a person is faced with such a choice, he must choose what, in his opinion, will turn out to be great good for him. Much later, in the Middle Ages, the scholastic philosopher Jean Buridan retold this parable in other words.
Buridan's Donkey Problem
In fact, there is no problem. There is a donkey starving to death, and there are two heaps of seemingly the same hay. What to choose? According to the parable, a donkey can endlessly decide and in the end just die of hunger. Also, a lop-eared animal can simply choose one of two stacks and start a meal. Jean Buridan was able to formulate the question of choice in this way. Is it possible to make a rational choice, if it is not entirely possible to calculate what this or that decision will lead to? True, according to rumors that have survived to this day, Buridan, telling this story to his listeners, always asked if he saw in such cases that the donkeys would die. Otherwise, all of Asia would simply be littered with the corpses of eared animals. In fact, animals are not tormented by the problem of choice, this property is inherent only to man.
Or pan, or gone
In fact, a buridan donkey is each of us at least several times a week. How often do you find yourself thinking what you should do in a particular situation and which of two evils to choose? This question is very well illustrated by the famous joke about the monkey, which could not decide in any way to whom to join it - smart or beautiful.
There is no and cannot be a single right answer in such situations, because a person has his own worldview and worldview.
Philosophical interpretation
In fact, as philosophers say, the meaning of the parable is not at all the problem of choosing "which is better." More and more globally. The donkey image is a model of determinism in the doctrine of human will. It is believed that if the mind cannot choose the best, in this case the will will prevail over human emotions, which will choose the aspiration for the higher. If, through reflection, a person understands that both options are equivalent, then the will of the person in this case is no longer valid.
Each of us faces the moral problem of choice at least once in a lifetime. Sometimes a question can sound quite harsh. For example, what is better - to tell the truth and lose everything, but at the same time acquire a relief of conscience, or to remain silent, but then live with a heavy heart?
Not a single person can stop in his achievements, this is both our joy and misfortune. On the one hand, we never stop developing, on the other, we can lose everything we have acquired. Buridanov donkey, the value of which can become fatal, haunts every person constantly. And there can be no right answer, because the concept of correctness is very relative, and each has its own.
Physical and mathematical meaning
Philosophers do not approve of the fact that the “buridan donkey” through the efforts of the physicist Leibniz has for some time been an experimental animal of the exact sciences. But the gray burdock donkey, along with the Schrödinger cat, is today also a participant in mental experiments. The behavior of a donkey in a given situation is predictable. So, knowing the laws of Newtonian mechanics, you can determine the location of any object (in the presence of some data). In addition, the buridanov donkey is mentioned in the explanation of Weierstrass's mathematical theorem. This theorem reads as follows - if a continuous function is positive at one point and negative at another, then there must be a point between these points where the function is equal to zero.
In the situation with the donkey, the situation is this: if the donkey cannot decide whether to eat a stack of it on the right side, or on the left, then he will remain in the middle and die.
The image of a donkey in culture
Not everyone knows the teachings of Jean Buridan, but many people know the stable expression “buridan donkey”. Today, this phrase denotes a hesitant person who can not choose what to do. In addition, one of the layouts of Tarot cards has this name. In addition, the buridan donkey is found in the work of Dante Alighieri, Eugenio Montale, Gunther de Bruyne, Henry Oldie.